Monday, 17 November 2014

We can all have bad days but...

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is jolly romping slapstick of a movie that I really enjoyed. There are no Oscar winning acting performances (although watch out for the lead boy when he grows older, I think he is gong to be very good), but it is not that kind of film. What is delightful is that it has some unexpected twists and turns, including a cameo performance from the legendary Dick Van Dyke.

Basic plotline: cuckoo in the nest pubescent boy who seems to always have bad days while the rest of his family have perfect ones, wishes his family they could experience a little of what happens to him. And they do... big time! Cue silly moments involving a disastrous driving exam, a drunk Peter Pan & a green marker pen that may to may not be poisonous... It's fun.

The lesson of this film is a very, very simple one: we can all have bad days but it is what you do with them that matters. All (well, almost all perhaps) bad days can be turned into good ones by a combination of grit, team work & loyalty, and a sense of abandon (in for a penny... etc) And the magical "when it's over, it's over... but not until then".

Leaders (and in the case of this film, there are three) have a critical role to play in this creating the environment in which such learning (or what to do with bad days) can occur. Leaders must show their capacity to do this and praise others for doing it too. Leaders also have the responsibility to make it OK for people to make mistakes and have a bad day, sometimes. It is a critical!

When was the last bad day that you had... what did you do with it? And what/who helped you to do that?

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This is the sixtieth of my 2014 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

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An Open Space balloon escapes...

And there was a discussion on how it could be brought down. My suggestion was to release the 'O' as well in the hope of luring a passing giant wanting to play noughts and crosses (tic tac toe for those who speak American English). The 'winning' suggestion was to find the lightest person in the group, tie all the other balloons to them and send them to retrieve it. How would you bring it down?

About Me

Buckingham Town Mayor 2017/2018 and local Town Councillor working with and for local people to make the town even healthier, safer and wealthier for everyone who lives, works, visits, studies and plays in Buckingham
Change facilitator and organisational development practitioner with 28+ years experience across the public services and commercial world.
And now a blogger and author too (Cracking Questions)